My feedback is, find a new plan. How many people will live here? Climate? Do you have a lot? What do you want in a house?

Honestly I'm underwhelmed.

You walk in from the front door and have to maneuver around the dining table to get to the great room.

Your master bedroom has one window but your master bath has windows on both outside walls? I'd rather have the master bedroom on the outside walls.

Your mechanicals are right near your master bedroom which means it could be noisy.

To get to your master bedroom, you have to walk between your dining room and kitchen and then around the kitchen?

If someone gets up early or stays up late and uses anything in the kitchen you'll hear it.

Two tier islands are harder for the elderly and youngsters to use.

Your garage is front and center and 1/2 the size of the house. Yuck.

Overall it feels small and cramped. Nothing wrong with small, but small can feel spacious. This doesn't.

Your garage is competing for attention with your entry. I would get rid of the gable over the garage so at least then your front door becomes the focal. Right now the house looks unbalanced because your eye goes immediately to the garage and it's so massive that the rest plays second fiddle. I also stand by my other comments.

I see the issue of the dining table . . . . Im still on the fence if it will be an issue for me or not.

The master will have one huge window. In the house that we live in now (we built) we have only two small windows on either side of the bed so, I*think* there will be plenty of light. Rarely in my bedroom unless I'm sleeping.

I guess its all relative, our house now is not even 1800 sq ft and I wouldn't be moving if we just had an extra game room for the kids and their friends.

Okay, so, working with what you have...can you enclose the screen porch and use that as your dining room? This way when the kids come barreling down the stairs, they don't send the dining chairs askew. This gives a nice sight line from the entry to the LR, and circulation space in the middle. You could even move a couple of island stools around to that side.

Relocate the screen porch--Mosquitos and black flies, right?--to the left of the LR, and a patio could wrap around to the master bedroom.

in the kitchen, the refrigerator is far from any work area. Many people here dislike their corner pantry (though some do like them). If you really want to keep it, swap the laundry room closet and the fridge/counter run. Or even get rid of the closet and have a long run of countertop and the fridge next to the pantry.

many people here also dislike that shape of lsiand, as well as two-tiers. Check over in kitchens for the reasons.

This feels really tight. I agree with most of cpartist's comments.

I don't like to see an exterior wall that could have windows used for a stairway. A stair with no landing is a killer.

Re-arrange the MBA. You have competing doors. I'd prefer the shower and toilet on the inside (south?) wall in a cold climate -- and a toilet room with a window.

Wouldn't your HVAC be more practical if it were more central to the house? (Shorter ducts; some radiant heat from the furnace.) What kind of heating do you plan?

Is there a secondary living space upstairs? This living area is only about 250 sq ft. It's also sort of a square, sticking out there with three exposures.

Money is going into building and maintaining a front porch that I suspect will never be used (cold and mosquitoes). Will your screened porch have a skylight or two to keep the dining area from being dark?

Skip the stonework 'skirting' and porch column bases. Bring the porch screening down to the floor or you will block the breezes. (This way it looks like a gonna-be sunroom.) Your landscaping will block the skirting once it is planted.

I just think you can do much better than this floorplan and this exterior.

I am sure you can do much better. Where will you put a TV if you plan to have one on the first floor?

We had a similar town house in relation to the kitchen and DR table and great room set up (sort of). I don't think this will work well at all with the table and then access to the screen porch. In reality, the DR table will get moved toward the wall to allow a walkway, which will impede access to the door to the screen porch.

A corner pantry is a PITA, but at least this one doesn't take away window space.

I believe you will regret the raised island counter on the frig and pantry side.

Good luck

RE - read one comment about the front porch. We LOVED, LOVED, LOVED our last house with a 7" deep front porch. Seriously LOVED it. Spent more time on that in the evening than in the back patio.

i will scratch the raised island, my husband loves them . . . me not so much.

Small and simple. I'm kind of iffy on the great room being all the way to the back, but that's opinion.

The great room is small, but it'll work because it's a "dead end room", meaning that it doesn't have to serve as a walkway to any other rooms.

I agree that the garage competes with the front door. This is easily fixed by eliminating the gable over the garage -- it's also a money saver in that it simplifies the roofline.

I like that the foyer welcomes both guests and family members coming in through the garage. This is a desirable feature and one that not many houses offer.

I do agree that the dining room table is an obstacle -- its placement means that you'll constantly have to "squeeze" between it and the island to reach the room you'll use most in the whole house. Sure, you can walk between the two items, but what about when you're carrying a baby on one hip, or moving the Christmas tree, or when grandma comes and is using her walker? It's a problem. I have two suggestions about fixing this: 1) Go with banquette seating against the wall. This is a big space saver, something useful in such a small house, and it'll allow a wider walkway between the island and the table. Something like this -- probably just a straight line seat for your layout -- and you can get some nice storage in the banquette itself:

Obviously, this'll mess up access to your screen porch ... but why not move it to the other side of the house. This'll also allow you access to the screen porch from BOTH the great room AND the master bedroom.

2) As you've arranged things now, people coming in the front door have to zig-zag to enter the living room -- I tried to draw this straight, but I'm not good with a snip tool pencil:

I'd turn the washer/dryer so they are placed on the exterior wall /means the dryer can vent directly to the outside, which is both cheaper and safer. I'd lose the doors to the coat closet in the mudroom. The mudroom already IS a closet, and removing the door does two things: 1) it eliminates a problem with two doors hitting one another, and 2) it increases the chances people will actually hang their coats.

I'd also look into flipping this coat closet and the cabinet in the kitchen (meaning, move the closet to the other side of the mudroom). This would place the closet closer to the front door, which is good for people coming in the front door ... and placing the closet a few feet from the door means kids won't walk in the door and STOP, blocking others from entering from the garage.

Could the master closet and bath move to the other side of the room, allowing the room to have windows on two sides?

Ugh I feel like I'm back to square one . . . this was the first plan that incorporated a lot of what i wanted within our square footage limits =(

Any one have any leads on a house plan about 2500 sq ft that has a main floor master and two bedrooms up with a game room (that has full length walls). Large kitchen with pantry, recessed fridge, no formal dining, mudroom with desk area, and nearby bathroom? AND a screen porch that has direct access to the dining/kitchen.

Have you considered working with an architect? A good architect is worth their weight in gold and can design a space that will work perfectly for you. The problem with online plans is that you're then trying to fit yourselves to the plan instead of having a plan that fits your lives.

I feel your frustration. I started designing my house 1 year ago and because of lots of reasons I am still trying to finalize the plan. If you want you can read about it HERE (second post down). I started with a butt ugly house elevation and lots of other small problems. I got it right considering our lot limitations and then we started thinking we wanted more land so we could fix a few of the problems.

We just bought some additional land (we now have 9000 square feet) so have to change some things on the house again and we were already in permitting! That thread is HERE.

Take your time and get it right.

Well I am working with a designer, in defense of this plan I just gave her criteria I wanted and she had this in her files. I think I have been looking for sooooo long that when I saw this plan, I got excited because it had all the things I have been looking for and only slightly above our square footage limitation. I ran with it, because frankly I'm tired of looking for something, that may not exist (budget vs wants) Sooooo I have been sitting on this house plan for so long and now our house is going on the market soon and BAM I am back to square one again. FRUSTRATED!

I hear you rusticraven. I'm there too. Our condo is now on the market and if we sell, it means we're renting for a year. Oh yes, our builder told us it would take 6 months from when we get the permits. I've done enough reno to know that I should figure a full year. LOL.

I will say a designer is not an architect. There are some good designers but make sure she's a real designer and not a draftsman who calls themselves a designer. That's what I wound up with. Our builder said, "You can use our designer to help you with your plans." Turns out his background is engineering and I wound up designing the house myself with the help of the architects here on this forum. The draftsman is a nice guy, but really has no sense of design.

Take a deep breath and maybe do a search here on houzz for architects. Also one of the architects on this forum talks about the charettes he does with his clients and how after a day they have a basic plan for their house. He only works in the MD/DC area, but you might be able to find a single practicing architect who would be interested in doing something like that.

This is quoted from Architectrunnerguy who is the person I mentioned about above.

"And third, get someone local of talent to sit down with you for a highly interactive "brainstorming session" on the design of your house. And this doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. Just look at the idea I drew above.......which took an hour. I do these all the time and call them "design charrettes". And don't think I have a horse in your race as I only do these locally, face to face, and I'm plenty busy with the locals anyway (some I even reference here!). In lieu of doing another big retype here's a coupla threads that explain those:

Not my first post here but the photo heavy one further down. In the charrette photo that's me pen in hand with the builder flanked by the owners (and from the photo you can see I'm a piano player too). http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3178541/question-for-architectrunnerguy-or-others?n=24

And a colleague of mine wrote the process up in his blog http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/design-in-a-day/"

How's this

Well, since you asked, the plan above is another "fat" plan with over-elevated roofs required to cover the multi-room span of the house, resulting in a bulky and out of proportion exterior. It also has a master suite which is as large as the living room, making one wonder about where this family will spend the majority of their waking hours...the screen porch shuts off the natural light into the living room and the extensive covered porches add tens of thousands of dollars for little in return. I think the laundry room is nice, being located as far from the bedrooms as is possible. Just my thoughts...other's mileage will surely vary!

Finish the media and screen in the lanai. Still around 2500f.

Annette, thanks for the suggestion but that plan has a lot of space that we would not use (4th bedroom and two dining areas) and for sake of cost I am looking for a simple footprint and roof line.

A minor detail, but a 6' wide walk-in closet is too narrow. It should be at least 7'. I also would have the MBR on the outside walls.

We have 5'6" and 5'7" walk in closets with rods both sides and this will work. I'd also suggest making the closet in the mud room between the mud and kitchen into a doorway, and moving that closet over to where the now pocket door is in the entry foyer. You could make a two sided closet to function as mud closet AND front coat closet if you put doors on the foyer and mud room sides. This gives you a much shorter pathway to the kitchen and pantry from the garage for unloading groceries, and saves the need for a pantry pass-thru, enlarging usable pantry space. It also gives you a front coat closet for when you have guests entering into the foyer.

rusticraven- 2,500 sf is definitely doable for what you want! Take heart, dig in and continue on. It is a long arduous process but if you are sitting with someone, take the time to express what you want (the check boxes) but have them draw something up that works for you. Take your time. Again take your time. We had a plan drawn for us but we rushed and it checks all the boxes YES but there is some wasted space and some things "I wish I would have..." but we didn't want to waste time with changes as the designer was over busy. When it's on paper it's the easiest and cheapest time to make changes. Don't put yourself in a box confined but what you have already found on-line or in someone's file (as I kick myself for doing just that).

These are my words of encouragement to you after going through the process and rushing the design all the while verbalizing - "we shouldn't rush this part, we really shouldn't". But we did - house sold, rental secured, winter closing in, designer swamped.....should have, could have, would have, SLOWED DOWN but didn't.

You can do it!

Do you want a two-story house? Small lot?

Why must this be on a slab? High water table? Been there; never again.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to comment. Much appreciated. Yes we want a two story or 1.5 story, main floor master. We are on a slab now, one level and for personal preference we wanna go up. Yes it needs to be on a slab, we do not like basements and our lot is not suit for one. Our lot is longer than it is wide (almost 2 acres).

Our lot is opposite yours. 2 acres but more wide than long (especially with set backs). Which way is south for you? I'd want to have your designer/architect draw it with living areas to the south - family room, kitchen, dining room. I know I have seen many plans that are constructed for a narrow lot and actually I think they can have a lot of character. This is our first experience with anything other than a ranch. Our home is about 2,300 sf and it is mainfloor master with 2 bedrooms and a bath upstairs. We didn't want any of that extra stuff either, one eating space, no formal rooms, etc. as they wouldn't get used with our lifestyle.

FWIW, the surprising things I wasn't expecting with a 1 1/2 story:

The kids bedrooms are upstairs (but we don't have a game room) above the living room/dining room/kitchen. While they are not above our bedroom there is still much more ceiling noise transfer than I ever imagined. It's not terrible, just more than expected. When the boys are up there messing around my dishes will rattle. :O

We do not have an open railing or anything of that sort but I am still surprised at how much sound travels down the stairs.

Basements are so common here I couldn't imagine not having one. If I had it to do over, I think I'd put the boys bedrooms in the basement and do a 2 bedroom on the main floor ranch with 2 in the basement.

I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Do you like the new 'old' farmhouse?

White Horse Houseplan

You could shrink it to ditch the 'parlor' and it's open yet defined kitchen/dining and then the family room. I love all the windows. I think upstairs you could remove the 'master' and you'd have the bedrooms and play room you are looking for. Just a thought. I've never seen this plan before.

I shrunk it a little on the main floor and removed the bumpouts:

Autumn - yea our only experience is with a ranch also. We are on a slab with only one living area and as the kids get older this house feels like its getting smaller and smaller . . . sooooo wanting an extra living space to stretch. Our lot is not at all suited for a basement, as flat as flat can be, and the only basement I would only consider is a walkout. It would add a huge amount in excavating costs. We love being on a slab . . . . so up up we go.

I do like that plan you posted! That was very kind of you to take the time to do that!! Love that kitchen island and the overall simplicity. One issue I see with the plan is no pantry or mudroom. Our mudroom is the work horse of our house. I love having the laundry, sink, and the space for shoes, backpacks etc. Hoping to have a desk area in the next house also, as I am always running back and forth from the garage to my desk to grab school papers, bills etc.

I noticed that and thought part of the screen porch could be turned into the mud area - lots of light for a desk and all the assorted kids stuff. I agree on the mudroom. Even when the kids are older and out I think dh and I have plenty of coats, jackets, boots, etc etc. I think the pantry is that closet across from the sink backing up to the 1/2 bath. You could also incorporate a walk in in that space or move the garage forward to be flush with the house. Anyhow just some food for thought if you can go deeper rather than wider.

I was thinking this spot with windows:

Okay I love to futz. Just moved the garage forward and added the mudroom to the back of the garage as it seems to be more natural - then you could have a gigantic pantry if you wanted - or move the back wall even with the ofc/mudroom if it doesn't need to be that big. ;) Anyhow. I hope you do post again when you have your next rendition. There are plenty of experts here as well as just the plain old floorplan junkies like myself.

And slap an entry door in that mudroom and it's the main kid entrance to the house, as well!

I love to "futz" too: moved the master suite down so the great room has more relationship to the back porch, removing the "jog" in the foundation. Simply moving it put the bedroom door in the LR, so I positioned it with the door opposite the stairs, and "stretched" the MBR wing to be even. I wanted to inset the bedroom door a little bit, so flipped the closet and bathroom, but I don't think it did much. I do, however, like how the space in front of the porch is more, well, spacious, and as easy to move between the porch and great room as the kitchen.

And, what if the kitchen were flipped, and you remove the elevator:

I love floorplans as well! I feel I can read and understand them well but when it comes time to the "futz" I have mental block. People will tell me just draw out what want . . . .and I can't. I can visualize it but getting my hand to draw out what's in my mind and its crickets. On another note, since I've been looking at floorplans again (ugh!) I come to find out that I am very drawn to modern layouts, just not the look. Love the single bank of cabinets with the long island in front also. (really dislike those pesky corner cabinets) Sooooo maybe I'm on to some thing here

Maybe this? The space where the elevator was could have storage, or a small piece of storage furniture.

If someone wants to take my house plan and adjust it for rusticraven, I believe it too could work for her. It's similar to what you're doing with the one here. Add the bonus room next to my study, and make the study smaller with a hallway to the bonus room. Instead of DH's study, it could become the mudroom/pantry area. Just saying. I just don't have time right now. :) And yes I'm ok with it if someone wants to do so. I own my plan.

LOL bp. Art yes, but I'll leave the designing of houses to the professionals. But thank you!

OH my lands the fun all of the 'futzers' could have! I just want to come over when your house is done, put my really WHITE feet in your pool and look at your art.

Autumn, you're welcome to.

I really like the kitchen island close to the patio (screen porch) for bringing food in and out. I showed the husband and he likes the plan. He really doesn't like the kitchen open to the living space and this is the first plan I have showed him that addresses that. Our current kitchen is as such and if we are watching a tv show and someone is doing the dishes you get the EVIL eye. Lol.

I have to say - we are in a new build with the 'fabulous open plan' and there are parts of it that aren't so fabulous. ;) I personally would prefer the somewhat separate spaces by a land slide. What's with the 'but then you aren't segregated and you can be together'. Are your truly together when you are banging pans and washing dishes and the other person is trying to watch TV? How is that 'together'? I miss having my radio on in the kitchen. I miss being able to say - 'go in the other room with that please'. They ARE in the other room! Ha! Or if someone stops by and you want to chat while the fam is doing something else there really is no place for that. I call the open floor plan 'all for 1 and 1 for all' living. Dh still loves it though....

Anyhow, I know many people love them but I was leery to start and after living here not so much a fan. I wouldn't do it again. Kitchen open to dining I can totally handle, kitchen open to family room I'll pass. Sorry I stepped onto that soap box so easily. :O What I really wanted to say was oh I am glad you like it because I like it for those reasons too and I really love the privacy it affords the master.

I am so glad I can close the kitchen off from the living/family room, so they can watch Game of Thrones while I watch Modern Family! I don't like an open plan, either. When I'm done in the kitchen, and they're not hogging the TV with GoT, I'm outta here! Kitchen is closed.

Actually I think I might take the parlor and turn it into the laundry room.

I also like that the screen porch is accessible to both the kitchen for outdoor dining and it's a great flow from the great room too and yet they both have outside light coming in. Neither are boxed in by it's location blocking natural light.

The stairs also empty into a middle spot to either go kitchen or great room and sound shouldn't flow straight into the great room.

The elevator could be as bpathome shows or you could use it an entry closet.

Have you checked out cpartists plan? It is similar to what you are talking, maybe a little more open than this one but close to all of the things you desire in a plan.